Quarantine
by Kiddo
Summary: a crewmember comes back sick from shoreleave
1. Chapter 1

**QUARANTINE**

Chapter 1

By Kiddo

Disclaimer:

I don't have any rights to the TV show "seaQuest DSV," and I am not making any money with this story. This is a translation of my German story, "Quarantäne." The German version was dedicated to Yury as a birthday present and takes place during the second season because she wished for it.

* * *

The crew of the seaQuest had just come back from a one-week shore leave, and shore leave was the main topic of conversation during lunch and other breaks on the first day back. This was, of course, the case with Tony Piccolo, Tim O'Neill, Miguel Ortiz and Lucas Wolenczak, who were sitting in the Mess Hall eating.

Miguel Ortiz was talking enthusiastically about his shore leave. "It was so great to see my big sister again. And her kids have grown so much! Her twins just turned 4 and are in kindergarten. The middle one is 9, and the oldest, Michaella, is 15. I told them about the seaQuest and showed them some pictures. I tell you, the little ones were totally in love with Darwin." Now the Cuban smiled at Lucas. "Michaella, on the other hand, was totally in love with your pictures and confiscated every single one. For the next shore leave, she wants me to visit them again and bring you with me. She wants me to introduce you to her and play matchmaker."

Immediately Tony stopped eating and looked at Miguel in horror. "You can't do that! I promised my cousin Angie that I would fix her up with Lucas."

The blond teen smacked his hand against his forehead in annoyance. This was nothing new to him. Why did everyone want to fix him up with his sister, friend, or other various relative? Was there a tattoo across his forehead that said, 'I'm looking for a girlfriend'? Or did he just attract that kind of attention like a magnet? Maybe he should dye his hair blue and get a lot of tattoos and piercings. Or maybe it would help to wear different kinds of clothes in the future. There had to be a way to stop everyone from trying to fix him up with a girl. He never had any trouble doing it on his own.

The computer genius looked questioningly at O'Neill. "Any relatives that you want to set me up with?"

Tim had to smile at the expression on Lucas's face. "Not at the moment, but if you want, I can think about whether I know anyone around your age."

The teenager only looked more irritated. "Please, don't do that!" Then he looked at his roommate and Ortiz. "Let me make one thing clear - you will not fix me up with anybody. I have no problems getting girlfriends on my own."

Miguel scowled. "Okay, okay." He let out a groan. "I tell ya, one week at my sister's and I'm totally worn out. I feel like I could use another shore leave."

O'Neill looked closely at the dark-haired man. "You really don't look so good. Maybe you should go to Dr. Smith and let her examine you."

Ortiz shook his head. "No need. It's nothing that a good night's sleep won't cure."

* * *

But unfortunately, Miguel Ortiz wasn't feeling any better the next morning. In fact, it was just the opposite. The Cuban had gotten a terrible headache in the night, wasn't feeling well overall, and had gotten a strange red rash on his skin that was itching. He really needed to see Dr. Smith.

To make sure that she didn't miss anything, Dr. Smith gave Ortiz a thorough examination, although in actuality, one look at the rash told her everything.

The dark-haired doctor tried to keep herself from smiling as she looked at Ortiz. "What did you do during your shore leave?"

"I visited my sister."

"Does your sister have any kids?"

Ortiz nodded. "Yes, why do you ask?"

"Because, I think you caught chicken pox from them," she said dryly.

"Chicken pox?" he asked incredulously. "But that's something only kids get! How can I get something that only kids get?"

"The fact that it's something mostly caught by children doesn't mean that only children can get it. And the older you get, the worse you feel when you have it," explained Wendy, without batting an eyelash.

Miguel's face twisted in torment. "As soon as the others hear that I have chicken pox they'll make fun of me like there's no tomorrow."

Ortiz stood up and started to leave medbay, but Wendy prevented stopped him. "Stop. Where do you think you are going?"

"To my cabin. Don't worry, Doc, I'll call in sick to Commander Ford."

Dr. Smith shook her head resolutely. "Oh no you don't. You will stay in medbay. You are under quarantine."

Ortiz's eyes got big. "Quarantine? But I don't have a dangerous tropical disease. It's only chicken pox!"

Wendy shook her head. "Only chicken pox? Do you know how contagious it is? You've probably already infected half of the crew. I don't want to think of all the work that this will give me. I will advise the capatin about this situation as soon as possible."

Miguel got even paler than before. Now that he knew what a difficult situation could be caused, he was sure that he wouldn't be visiting his sister anytime soon.

* * *

To Be Continued…

Written august 2004


	2. Chapter 2

**QUARANTINE**

Chapter 2

By Kiddo

Disclaimer:

I don't have any rights to the TV show "seaQuest DSV," and I am not making any money with this story.

A big "Thank You" goes to Jackie for beta-reading.

I know that we are not allowed to reply to reviews in a chapter. But I must say something to Kates. In germany children are not inoculated against chicken pox, they only get inoculated against them if they have a disease where any other additional illness would be dangerous or deadly. (Andsince I'm from Germany,Istick to the german facts).And I know that the time of exposure of the virus and the first symptoms is much longer. (I have a note about this, but only at the end of the story). But for this story it works better if everybody gets sick fast and therefore Iignore the medical facts.;-)

* * *

Half an hour later, the senior crew of the seaQuest, with the exception (of course) of Miguel Ortiz, was sitting around the table in the ward room.

Twenty minutes earlier, Dr. Smith had informed the captain about their sensor chief's condition, and now the others knew as well.

After sitting through Dr. Smith's detailed report, Bridger looked around at everyone. "You see that we have a big problem here. If our luck fails to hold out, then a large portion of the crew could be disabled. On a submarine like this, sickness can spread like wildfire. It's also too late to take the sick crew members back to the main land because chicken pox are highly contagious, and people who still feel well are probably already infected." The captain looked at each one in turn. "What about all of you? Who here has already had the chicken pox and won't be able to catch it?"

Ever since Dr. Smith had said the words 'chicken pox,' Tim O'Neill's face had gotten paler and paler. "I never had them."

Lt. Brody grinned at Tim. "Really? I thought that every child had them. I can remember the time I had them quite clearly. Itchy, gross red bumps everywhere..."

Commander Ford nodded. "Yeah, not very pleasant. My brother was the one who infected me with it."

Lonnie Henderson thought back also. "Half of my school was out sick with them, and even a few teachers. But aside from the bad itching, we had a lot of fun. Because so many of us were sick it meant that we could play together and not have to sit alone at home and be bored."

Dr. Smith nodded in understanding "Yes, it was nearly the same at my school. What about you, Captain? Have you already had chicken pox?"

Bridger nodded. "Yes." Then he looked at the seaQuest's computer specialist. "What about you? Did you already have it?"

The blond teen shook his head. "No, but I'm inoculated against it."

Wendy Smith picked up on that; chicken pox was not something that children were normally inoculated against. Unless, of course, they had . The dark-haired doctor had always thought that the young genius was fit as a fiddle. She looked closely at the teenager; had he concealed something from her?

Lucas didn't miss the expression on the doctor's face. "Don't worry, Doc, I'm just inoculated against every little thing so that I won't get sick. Sickness means that my parents would have to take care of me."

Dr. Smith and the crew members who hadn't been there during the first tour looked shocked or upset.

Lucas wasn't keen on fielding any questions about his parents and decided to change the subject. "Hey, what about Darwin? Can he get infected?"

Wendy hesitated for a moment, then, she shook her head. "No."

"Are you sure?" asked the blond teen.

Dr. Smith shook her head again. "Unfortunately no. And I think that you probably know more about dolphins than me."

The computer genius nodded thoughtfully. "Okay. Just to be sure, I think I'll do some investigating."

The doctor now turned to the captain. "With your permission, I'd like to ask Dagwood if he'd be willing to give me a hand in medbay if I don't have enough people. As a Dagger, he's immune to chicken pox, and I have no idea how many of my staff will be out of the picture."

Bridger nodded. "That goes without saying. But please, ask him if he wants to do it."

Dr. Smith nodded. "Of course."

* * *

Some time later, Lucas went back to his cabin. He sat down in front of his computer and started his dolphin research.

He was in the middle of reading an interesting and helpful article when Tony Piccolo stormed into the room. "Hey, Luke. I heard that Ortiz is under quarantine - what's going on there?" That was one of the practical things about his room mate; he could always count on the teen to have important and interesting information to share.

Lucas's eyes were still fixed on the screen. "Don't call me Luke. And by the way, Miguel has the chicken pox."

The ex-prisoner fell down laughing on his bed. "Unbelievable! Chicken pox! It seems that Miguel is still a little kid after all." Piccolo just couldn't stop laughing.

"Tony, it's not funny. The older you are when you get them, the worse you feel. It's probably our tough luck that he's already infected everybody who never had them."

Piccolo was still smiling. "Calm down, Wolenczak. It's not that baaad. After all, I lived through it."

Lucas scruntinized his roommate for a moment and imagined Tony as a child with chicken pox. The teen shook his head to chase those thoughts away; he really didn't want to imagine that. He was sure that Piccolo had been one of those children who was always whining and had driven his mother to insanity.

Tony peered over the blond genius's shoulder to get a look glance at the screen. Maybe for once Lucas was looking at something interesting, perhaps the Playboy website or something like that. But when he only spotted a dolphin, he looked away in disappointment. Why was the teenager only ever interested in the boring stuff? "What are you looking at?"

"I wanted to find out if Darwin can get infected with chicken pox," explained the computer genius.

"And?" asked Piccolo.

"No danger for Darwin." His voice had the obvious sound of relief.

* * *

The next day, Brody, Piccolo, and Lucas visited Miguel in medbay. Because of the fact that Jim and Tony had already had chicken pox as children and Lucas was inoculated against it, they were allowed to keep Ortiz company for a bit.

Poor Miguel really felt horrible, and his body was covered with a red rash.

Jim was sitting on a chair next to the bed and told the patient the latest gossip going around the ship. It didn't matter if Miguel was interested or not, he had to get this out. "Henderson told me that the red-head from the kitchen told her that Seaman Davidson…."

The blond teenager and Tony looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Sometimes Brody could be such a gossip-monger.

Unconsciously, Ortiz started to scratch the skin of his left armpit. Lt. Brody acted quickly and gave Miguel a quick slap on his hand. "Don't scratch that, there will be scars."

The sensor chief made a face. "It's easy for you to say, after all you're not the one who isn't allowed to leave medbay and has to put up with this terrible itching."

Jim shook his head in disbelief. "Don't make such a fuss! I have also had the chicken pox, but unlike you, I was a little kid, and I was very brave and didn't scratch. I don't have a single scar from that."

Miguel twisted his face again but decided that it was better to say nothing and only threw a despairing look at Tony and Lucas.

* * *

The next day, however, Ortiz wasn't the only one who had to stay in medbay. Seven more crew members, including Lt. O'Neill, had also come down with the chicken pox, giving Dr. Smith a lot of work.

* * *

To Be Continued…

Written august 2004 / Translated winter 2005


	3. Chapter 3

**QUARANTINE**

Chapter 3

By Kiddo

Disclaimer:

I don't have any rights to the TV show "seaQuest DSV," and I am not making any money with this story.

A big "Thank You" goes to Jackie for beta-reading.

* * *

One day later, the situation had worsened. 15 more crew members had come down with chicken pox, and one of them was Tony Piccolo. He had been convinced that he'd already had chicken pox, but now it turned out that he'd had the German measles and not chicken pox.

That same evening, Lt. Brody stepped into the over-crowded medbay and went directly to Dr. Smith, scratching at his arm. "Dr. Smith, you have to take a look at this; I must be allergic to something." As he finished speaking, he pushed the sleeve of his uniform up. It seemed that he hadn't noticed the red spots also covering his face.

After Wendy glanced briefly at the rash, she groaned. "Lieutenant, this isn't an allergy. It seems you have chicken pox as well."

Jim's eyes got big, and he shook his head emphatically. "That's not possible, I already had them when I was little. I thought you could only get chicken pox once in your life."

Smith nodded. "That's right. You had something different as a child, but it wasn't chicken pox."

Brody frowned. "But I'm absolutely sure that I had chicken pox as a child!"

Wendy didn't feel like getting into an argument with the lieutenant; she really had enough work to do. She went to the computer where all of the seaQuest crew members' medical files were saved. She clicked on Brody's file. After she read a little bit of it, she looked up. "You didn't have chicken pox, you had a sun allergy."

The blond officer was speechless for a moment. "But... but I was so brave and didn't scratch..." He sounded pathetic.

Wendy had to keep herself from laughing and just decided to ignore it. "One of the nurses will give you a bed for the next few days."

When Smith left, Brody turned around and looked thoughtfully in another direction. It was then that he spotted a nastily grinning Ortiz.

"What was that about you being so brave and not scratching? Right! Oh it will be such a pleasure for me to repay you. Now I get to slap you on the finger if you want to scratch," said Miguel Ortiz determinedly. He already felt better. Now he looked cruelly at Jim. "Oh, that pock on your nose looks really, really bad. I'm sure it itches terribly. But don't forget, no scratching; that causes scars."

The moment that Ortiz said that, Brody's nose began to itch a lot. Jim could feel it in his hands, how much wanted to scratch. But he couldn't give Ortiz the satisfaction. The next few days would be no walk in the park, but maybe he could persuade Dr. Smith to put his pool table in here. At least it would bring some variety to life in quarantine. But, he doubted that she would allow it.

* * *

The next day, Bridger scrutinized his bridge crew. It now only consisted of Ford, Henderson, Lucas, and himself. The rest were sick with chicken pox, along with a third of the entire crew. The seaQuest was looking more like a hospital than a top UEO submarine. It was enough to drive a person mad!

For some time, Lucas had been sitting at his station, observing the commander. Something was really wrong with the man, and the first sign was that Ford wasn't standing as straight as he usually did. The teenager tried to get Bridger's attention by coughing once. When the captain didn't notice, he tried a sort of coughing fit.

Nathan sat up and looked in Lucas's direction. In the excitement of the last few days, had he not realized that his youngest crew member was sick? He went over to the computer genius, laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, and leaned down next to him. "Everything okay? Are you feeling alright?"

The blond teenager smiled reassuringly at the older man. "Don't worry, Captain, I'm fine. But, I think the commander isn't feeling too good." As he said it, he motioned to Jonathan Ford with his eyes.

Bridger watched Ford for a moment, and then he nodded at Lucas. "Thanks." Nathan went to his first officer and addressed him. "Go to medbay and get yourself checked out. Oh, and call your mother and ask her if you really have already had chicken pox."

Ford only nodded and left the bridge, a clear sign that he really wasn't feeling well.

On the way to medbay, Ford stopped at one of the rooms with a vidphone. After he let it ring a few times, a friendly-looking woman answered it, but when she spotted the commander, her face took on a worried expression. "Oh god Jonathan, you look terrible."

"Thanks, Mom, it's nice to see you too. I'm just calling because I need to know something. Do you remember how I had chicken pox when I was little?"

Ford's mother looked at him curiously. "Jonathan, what are you talking about? You never had chicken pox, you only had the measles."

* * *

A day later, the situation had gone from bad to worse. Bridger had no other choice than to contact the UEO and inform them of the situation. After some thinking, he decided that calling Secretary-General Noyce would be the best and the easiest thing to do.

It took only two rings before his secretary answered. "What can I do for you Captain Bridger?"

"Is Bill available Miss Brooks?" asked Nathan. He knew the secretary fairly well because she had been working for Noyce for years.

Marcia Brooks nodded. "Just a second, I'll put you through."

The UEO logo appeared on Bridger's screen for a moment, followed by Bill's face. "Hello Nathan, nice to see you. How are you?"

"I'm fine. And you?"

"The same. Why are you calling?"

Bridger groaned. "We have quite a problem on the seaQuest."

Noyce looked at his old friend in surprise. "I thought McGath was responsible for these things now."

Nathan nodded. "Yes, but in this particular case, I thought it might be better to talk to you."

Bill looked interested but also worried. "Okay, spit it out."

"A little less than half of my crew are ill and can't work. We have to put the whole submarine under quarantine."

"Ok... this is a belated April Fool's Day joke, right?" asked Noyce.

The captain shook his head. "Unfortunately not. We have an outbreak of chicken pox on board."

"Chicken pox?" For a moment, Bill sat with his jaw hanging open.

Bridger nodded. "Yes, chicken pox. I can tell you that the whole situation on board is becoming unbearable. The medbay is totally overcrowded; there isn't a single bed free, and the ones who haven't gotten it as bad are confined to quarters. The only ones left of my bridge crew are Lonnie Henderson and Lucas. I can tell you, I have no idea what I would do without that boy, he is such a help."

Noyce smiled inwardly. The good relationship that had developed between Bridger and the youngest crew member was totally expected. During the last tour, they'd had the beginning of something special, and if Noyce admitted the truth (if only to himself), he had secretly hoped that the two of them would have some kind of friendship or relationship. But, in the end, you could never plan something like that. You could just try to help it along. Luckily it had worked perfectly. The feelings they had for each other were good for them, and nobody had been surprised that after the destruction of the first seaQuest, Lucas had spent a lot of time on Bridger's island. Bill shook his head slightly to chase those thoughts away. They had more important things to deal now. "The whole thing sounds bad."

The captain nodded. "You see, we are not in any position to really accept orders or settle any conflicts." Nathan sounded depressed.

Noyce nodded thoughtfully. "I will talk with the leading members of the UEO about this and try to keep this secret. I don't want to think about what'll happen if the press or any enemy of the UEO hears about this."

Bridger nodded again. "Yes, that would be disastrous."

"Shall we send you a replacement crew?"

The captain shook his head. "No, there's no need. First, you'd have to find enough people who really have already had chicken pox so that they wouldn't get sick as well, and second, we don't have room for a replacement crew. I think the best thing to do is just keep quiet for the next few days and wait for the whole thing to blow over."

Noyce nodded. "Sounds reasonable. But stay in contact if anything changes or happens."

* * *

To Be Continued…

Written august 2004 / Translated winter 2005


	4. Chapter 4 END

**QUARANTINE**

Chapter 4

By Kiddo

Disclaimer:

I don't have any rights to the TV show "seaQuest DSV," and I am not making any money with this story.

A big "Thank You" goes to Jackie for beta-reading.

* * *

Three days later, Lucas left the bridge completely exhausted. Because they were so severely understaffed, everyone who could work had to work longer and harder. It had an effect on everybody. The teenager longed for his bed, as his next shift was scheduled to begin in 6 hours. No body was getting enough sleep these days.

The computer genius was just glad that Tony had a bed in medbay and couldn't stay in their cabin. Under normal circumstances, Piccolo and he got along fine as roommates, but at the moment, a chicken pox-plagued Tony would be too much to handle! The guy was whining and complaining all the time. Lucas could understand quite well that Piccolo wasn't feeling good, but nobody else was making as big a fuss as the ex-con.

Having the cabin to himself for the moment felt like luxury to the blond teen. He also realized that he definitely hadn't appreciated it enough during the last tour. Now Tony couldn't leave his stuff lying around the cabin, and he couldn't keep Lucas awake with his snoring. Tony always claimed that he couldn't snore because of his gills, but Lucas knew better. Maybe he should record the sound one day and play it back for Tony the next morning...

Before heading for his cabin, Lucas turned in direction of the Moon Pool naturally. Even a chicken pox epidemic couldn't ruin his daily ritual of doing something with Darwin. That it meant he would get less sleep didn't cross his mind. Wild horses couldn't stop him from visiting his best friend.

* * *

Seven days later, nearly everything was back to normal again on the seaQuest. Only 10 crew members were still sick, and Dr. Smith could finally breathe easier.

She was now sitting in her office, going through the crew members' medical files. She really had a lot updates to make.

* * *

Lucas Wolenczak was sitting in front of the computer in his and Tony's cabin. He had worked very hard during the outbreak of chicken pox, and now, as a reward, he got some extra free time.

At the moment, he was reading a few interesting articles that he had found and saved while researching if Darwin could get infected with chicken pox. Unfortunately, the headache that he'd had for the last few hours was getting worse and worse. It had to come from all the work he'd been doing and the lack of sleep.

The computer genius scratched his armpit. Somehow, a mosquito had managed to get on board the submarine, and it was just his luck that it had chosen him as the victim. Great, just great!

Suddenly, the boy's pal began to beep. The teenager grabbed it, hoping that there weren't any big computer emergencies; he really had no patience for them at the moment. "Yeah, Lucas."

"It's me, Dr. Smith. I just went through all the medical files, and I discovered that your vaccination for chicken pox has run out. It's already been three years. Come to me as soon as you feel that you might be sick, but I'm hoping that maybe you are one of the lucky ones that won't get them."

The teenager could only get a slightly shocked "Okay" out.

"That was all I wanted to tell you. I hope I didn't disturb you. Smith out." And with that, the doctor ended the call.

Lucas pulled up the sleeve of his plaid shirt and looked at his supposed mosquito bite. Hmmm... actually, if he really looked at it, it didn't look like a mosquito bite at all...

The End

Written August 2004 / Translated December 2005

* * *

Information:

Normally the incubation period for chicken pox is a bit longer. But, I used my artistic license and changed it. I just found it more interesting if everybody got sick faster and without more time in between. But hey, this is just fanfiction.


End file.
